Infant carrier

ABSTRACT

An infant carrier having a shell provided with a back wall interconnected to a seat wall with a pair of side walls projecting forwardly from said back and seat walls. A groundengageable wire support is selectively received in pluralities of pairs of sockets and clips on said back wall for supporting said shell in different angles of tilt.

United States Patent [191 3,858,936 Gerken 1 Jan. 7, 1975 [5 INFANT CARRIER 3,334,944 8/1967 Gonldn 297/377 3,746,390 7/1973 Koah 297/377 lnventol'. Donald L. Gerken, Columbus, I i I l i i l I I n 73 Assignee; Cosco, Inc Columbus, Ind R26,490 11/1968 Jensen 297/377 [22] Filed: 1973 Primary ExaminerFrancis K. Zugel [2]] Appl. N0.: 338,404 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Trask, Jenkins & Hanley [52] U.S. Cl. 297/377, 297/DIG. 2 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. A47c 7/62 I l 53 Field of Search 297/254, 377; 248/456; havmg Sheu l l F i 5/327 B wall mtereonnected to a seat wall with a pair of side walls pro ecting forwardly from said back and seat [56] References Cited walls. A;grourd-ingagezble wirefsupiort is sgleletively receive in p ura mes 0 pairs 0 soc ets an e IpS on UNITED STATES PATENTS said back wall for supporting said shell in different an- 2,563,67l 8/1951 Basinger 248/456 leg of tilt, 3,206,247 9/1965 Johnson 1 297/254 g 3,293,669 12/1966 Emery 297/377 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures INFANT CARRIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Infant carriers formed from a plastic shell and supported at different angles of tilt by a wire support are well known inthe art. Carriers of this type are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,206,247 and Re 26,490.

It has been the common practice in manufacturing such carriers to employ a pair of movably interconnected members to form the wire support. This lack of rigidity in the support creates the possibility of the support, and thus the shell, collapsing with the attendant danger of injury to the infant. It has also been a common practice in manufacturing such carriers to connect the support to the shell by the use of non-capturing hooks, detents, and the like. This also creates a lack of rigidity in thecarrier increasing its susceptibility to collapse.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved infant carrier construction which will overcome these difficulties and disadvantages. More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an infant carrier which can be adjusted into different tilted positions but which will prove sturdy and durable in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one form of the invention, there is provided a shell having a back wall connected at its lower end to seat wall. Side walls project forwardly from said back wall and upwardly from said seat walls. A. pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced sockets project rearwardly from the rear face of said back wall. A pair ofclaterally spaced rows of vertically spaced rearwardly open clips also project rearwardly from said back wall below said sockets.

The shell is supported in various angles of tilt by a unitary wire support connected to said sockets and clips. The support comprises a pair of legs having transition stretches at their upper ends. Fingers project rearwardly from the upper ends of said transition stretches and are selectively received in a pair of said sockets. The transition stretches abut the rear face of the back wall below said pair of sockets and the legs angle downwardly and rearwardly from the lower ends of said stretches and have their lower ends connected to a pair of runners angled laterally inwardly and upwardly from the lower ends of the legs, the junctures of said legs and runners defining a pair of groundengageable feet. A transverse bight interconnects the forward ends of said runners and is selectively received in a pair of said clips for connecting the lower portion of the support to the shell. Thus, by positioning the fingers in different pairs of sockets and the bight in different pairs of clips, the support can support the shell in various angles of tilt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an infant carrier embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the infant carrier shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. 1, the infant carrier comprises a plastic shell 10 adapted to hold an infant and having a back wall 12 connected at its lower end to a forwardly projecting seat wall 14. A pair of side walls 16 project forwardly from the lateral edges of the back wall 12 and are integrally joined at their lower ends to the lateral edges of the seat wall 14. Conveniently, a front wall 18 projects downwardly from the front edge of the seatwall 14 to form asupport for the lower portion of the infants legs. A cushioned pad (not shown) is normally supported against the front face of the back wall 12 and the upper face of the seat wall 14, and a safety strap 22 for retaining an infant in the shell extends through slots 23 formed in the shell back wall 12.

The shell 10 is adapted to be supported in a reclining position by a wire support 25 which can be connected to the shell in a plurality of different positions to thus support said shell at different angles of tilt. In order to mount the support 25 in its different positions of adjustment on the shell, a plurality of rearwardly open sockets 27 and clips 28 are integrallly formed on the rear face of the shell back wall 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sockets 27 are formed in a pair of laterally spaced rows on the upper portion of the shell. The sockets are vertically spaced with respect to each other in each row with the sockets in one row being disposed in horizontal alignment with the sockets in the other row. Each of the sockets 27 is identical in construction, and as shown in FIG. 3, comprises a pair of side walls 30 interconnected by a top wall 31 and bottom wall 32. The socket walls 30-32 project rearwardly from the rear face of the shell back wall 12, and an opening 34 is formed in seat back wall within the cross-sectional extent of the socket. For reasons that will become hereinafter, an opening 36 is also formed in the bottom wall 32 adjacent its juncture with the shell wall 12.

Like the sockets 27, the clips 28 also project rearwardly from the rear face of shell wall 12 in two laterally spaced rows. The clips 28, which are disposed on the lower portion of the shell, are vertically spaced with respect to each other in each row with the clips in the two rows being disposed in horizontal alignment with each other. Each of the clips is identical in construction, and as shown in FIG. 4, comprises a pair of vertically spaced tongues 38. Each of said tongues has an inwardly directed projection 39 adjacent its outer end to thus form a restricted opening into the space between the tongues.

The support 25 is formed from an unitary length of wire and is bent intoa configuration to provide a centrally disposed transverse bight 40. The ends of the bight are joined to a pair of runners 42 which angle rearwardly and laterally outwardly and downwardly therefrom. The opposite or rearward ends of runners 42 are integrally joined to a pair of legs 44 angling upwardly and laterally inwardly from the rearward ends of runners 42. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the legs 44 is in the same vertical plane as its associated runner, but the angle between said leg and runner is less than The upper ends of the legs 44 areintegral with the lower ends of angularly offset transition stretches 46. And the upper end of each of the transition stretches 3 46 is integrally joined to a rearwardly projecting finger 48.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, to connect the support 25 to the shell the fingers 48 and the upper portions of the transition stretches 46 are inserted through the openings 36 in a pair of horizontally aligned sockets 27. During such insertion, the fingers and stretches will have to be swung in a clockwise direction as viewed in H6. 3, with the back wall openings 34 providing the necessary clearance for such swinging movement. With the fingers 48 received in said sockets, they will be re tained against the socket bottom walls 32 between the socket side walls 30. The transition stretches 46 are disposed in abutting engagement with the rear face of shell back wall 12 and the legs 44 are angled rearwardly with respect to said shell back wall. As the support 25 is swung downwardly with respect to the shell to locate the fingers 48 in operative position in sockets 27, the bight 40 will be received in a pair of the clips 28. The spacing between the clip projections 39 is less than the diameter of said bight so that as it is received in the clips, the clip tongues 38 will be sprung open. Once the bight has cleared the projections 39, the tongues 38, due to their inherent resiliency, will spring back toward each other to releasably lock the bight in the clips.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bight 40 has a length only slightly greater than the distance between the laterally outwardly disposed faces of the clips. Thus, the runners are engageable with the lateral edges of said clips to limit lateral sliding movement of the bight with respect to said clips. Such movement is further limited by a pair of tabs 50 formed on the bight 40 adjacent the inner edges of said clips.

As shown, the legs 44 angle laterally outwardly and downwardly from the transition stretches 46 and the runners angle laterally outwardly from the ends of the bight 40. In this manner, the junctures of the legs and runners form a pair of widely spaced supporting feet for the shell for supporting said shell in a tilted position. The bottom of the shell is supported on a pair of snubbers 52 mounted on its rear face at the juncture of its back and seat walls 12 and 14.

As will be understood, by positioning the tongues 48 and bight 40 in different pairs of sockets 27 clips 28, respectively, the support 25 will support the shell in different angles of tilt. While three pairs of such sockets and clips have been shown, it is to be understood that any number of such sockets and clips may be provided depending upon the number of tilted positions desired.

I claim:

1. An infant carrier, comprising an infant-supporting shell having a back wall connected at its lower end to a forwardly projecting seat wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced sockets projecting rearwardly from the rear face of said back wall, each of said sockets having a pair of side walls interconnected by top and bottom walls, said bottom wall having an opening formed therein, said shell back wall having openings formed therein in alignment with said bottom wall openings, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced rearwardly open clips projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, and a support wire having a pair of legs interconnected at their upper ends to rearwardly projecting fingers selectively received in the bottom wall openings in a pair of said sockets, the lower ends of said legs terminating in forwardly projecting runners interconnected at their forward ends by a transverse bight selectively received in a pair of said clips.

2. An infant carrier as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said clips comprises a pair of vertically spaced yieldable tongues projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, each pair of said tongues having opposed inwardly directed projections thereon adjacent their outer ends, the spacing between said projections being less than the diameter of said bight.

3. An infant carrier, comprising an infant-supporting shell having a back wall connected at its lower end to a forwardly projecting seat wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced sockets projecting rearwardly from the rear face of said back wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced rearwardly open clips projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, and a support wire having a pair of legs provided at their upper ends with a pair of transition stretches, a pair of fingers projecting rearwardly from the upper ends of said stretches and selectively re ceived in a pair of said sockets, said stretches abutting said back wall rear face below said pair of sockets, said legs extending downwardly and rearwardly from the lower ends of said stretches with the lower ends of said legs terminating in forwardly projecting runners interconnected at their forward ends by a transverse bight selectively received in a pair of said clips. 

1. An infant carrier, comprising an infant-supporting shell having a back wall connected at its lower end to a forwardly projecting seat wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced sockets projecting rearwardly from the rear face of said back wall, each of said sockets having a pair of side walls interconnected by top and bottom walls, said bottom wall having an opening formed therein, said shell back wall having openings formed therein in alignment with said bottom wall openings, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced rearwardly open clips projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, and a support wire having a pair of legs interconnected at their upper ends to rearwardly projecting fingers selectively received in the bottom wall openings in a pair of said sockets, the lower ends of said legs terminating in forwardly projecting runners interconnected at their forward ends by a transverse bight selectively received in a pair of said clips.
 2. An infant carrier as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said clips comprises a pair of vertically spaced yieldable tongues projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, each pair of said tongues having opposed inwardly directed projections thereon adjacent their outer ends, the spacing between said projections being less than the diameter of said bight.
 3. An infant carrier, comprising an infant-supporting shell having a back wall connected at its lower end to a forwardly projecting seat wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced sockets projecting rearwardly from the rear face of said back wall, a pair of laterally spaced rows of vertically spaced rearwardly open clips projecting rearwardly from said back wall rear face, and a support wire having a pair of legs provided at their upper ends with a pair of transition stretches, a pair of fingeRs projecting rearwardly from the upper ends of said stretches and selectively received in a pair of said sockets, said stretches abutting said back wall rear face below said pair of sockets, said legs extending downwardly and rearwardly from the lower ends of said stretches with the lower ends of said legs terminating in forwardly projecting runners interconnected at their forward ends by a transverse bight selectively received in a pair of said clips. 